26 Million People Have Never Taken Financial Advice

Staggering results in a survey by SJP Wealth of a sample of 12,000 people found that nearly 1 in 2 people have never taken financial advice.  This equates to the equivalent of 26 million adults in the UK never having taken advice.

Barriers to advice were:

• 33% suggest financial advice is not relevant to their financial position.
• 10% (rising to 14% for 18-34yr olds) are not aware of the potential benefits of financial advice hence no seeking it.
• 14% of 18-34yrs believe it is too early for them to seek financial (this reduces to just 6% for over 50s).

Comment

We get that when younger people are starting out, financial resources may be concentrated towards rent, student loans, mortgage deposits, mortgage payments, weddings, and then young children.  It is only really in our late 20s and 30s that wealth in pension funds and other savings or property may start to accumulate.  Hence, the need later to seek financial advice for mortgages or pensions.

Another barrier, we suggest is affordable access.  Lower income families may perceive they have little need for advice and costs may be prohibitive and we have long suggested that a type of Financial Advice Aid, similar to Legal Aid is introduced although the regulator has tried to tackle this with free consultations from MoneyHelper.org.uk and also free pensions help for the over 50s with their Pension Wise service (all funded by the industry).